3/28/12: For a pitcher who went a perfect 20-0 in high school, success has been hard to come by for Light at the college level.
He went just 2-6, 6.12 as a freshman for Monmouth, and a modest 4-5, 4.04 as a sophomore for the Hawks, working almost exclusively as a starter both seasons. Even as he flashed one of the more-impressive arms last summer in the Cape Cod League, he still found wins elusive as he went 0-5.
With the 2012 draft lurking, Light finally appears to have seen the light—so to speak. In his last two outings for Monmouth, both Northeast Conference encounters, he has pitched the two best games of his college career. He went the distance in beating Fairleigh Dickinson 3-1 on a six-hitter in his first encounter, striking out a career-high 13, then took a perfect game into the eighth inning against Wagner, before settling on a two-hitter and his first career shutout in a 2-0 win. He walked none and struck out 11.
The two impressive performances pushed Light’s record on the season to 4-1, 2.93 and helped to alleviate lingering concerns that scouts have had about Light—especially after he was the losing pitcher in an 18-4 drubbing by Virginia in his second start this spring. He gave up seven runs, walked three and struck out only one in that debacle, but over 43 innings on the spring, spanning six starts, he has allowed just eight walks and 35 hits while striking out 38.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pound Light has always impressed scouts with his big, athletic frame and power arm, but a lack of consistency has notoriously proven his undoing. He routinely flashes a two-seam fastball in the 95-96 mph range as a starter, and even reached 97 last summer on the Cape while working mostly in relief. But he has a tendency to lose velocity quickly on his fastball, and will often settle into the low-90s by the middle innings, though he retains good sinking action on the pitch.
Light’s greatest inconsistency normally occurs with his secondary stuff, notably his slider. The pitch shows signs of being an above-average offering, when it’s working at peak form, but Light is prone to an inconsistent arm slot and his slider will tend to flatten out when he drops his angle. He also throws an average changeup.
Scouts have been unsure whether to profile Light more as a starter or reliever because of his inability to carry his velocity deep into games and general inconsistency, but he may have answered all questions about his future role with dominating performances in his last two starts.